iTunes future hangs in the balance over royalty payments

The future of music at the iTunes Store rests in the hands of three Washington judges who will decide today what royalties music publishers should get from sales through online stores like Apple's.

At present, iTunes pays 9.1-cents per track in royalties to publishers, though the National Music Publishers' Association wants this raised to 15 cents, arguing that there's lower cost of production for digital goods, arguing this means there's more cash in the pot to share out.

Major labels, Apple and other music retailer members of the DiMA (Digital Media Association) want the royalty reduced to 4.8 cents.

Apple has threatened to close its store if the ruling goes against its wishes. Eddy Cue, vice-president of iTunes, told the three judges - who sit on the Copyright Board board, “[Apple] is in this business to make money, and would most likely not continue to operate [iTunes] if it were no longer possible to do so profitably.”

The judges will also set “mechanical” royalties publishers earn from mobile ringtones and compact discs.

While the decision should be made today, it may not be made public until later this week.

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Games, networking and music drive iPhone usage

UK iPhone users appear hugely happy with their devices, they play mobile games and love applications like Facebook and Shazam, new research claims.

Presented this week at the packed invite-only mashup* event, digital media executives digested a new UK report which explores the demographics of the iPhone user.

Hosting the event, author Tony Fish said: “Devices, applications and services such as those offered by iPhone, iTunes, AppStore and Apple (Mac) appear to offer consumers what they need – simplicity.”

iPhone users like games, love Apple's Remote application and essentially look for applications that entertain, help them socialise or help them achieve useful tasks, like geo-tagging of images or publishing to blogs, the research suggests.

iPhone applications are addictive, the research confirms, citing one user who said: “I generally check for new applications daily and end up usually buying at least one a day.”

The research also showed that iPhone gaming is more acceptable - and more pleasing - than many mobile gaming platforms that have preceeded the device.

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Introduced at WWDC, Kroll reaches Phone

Digital Legends Entertainment has released Kroll, the side-scrolling action game first debuted on stage at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) this past June.

Kroll is a 3D side-scrolling fighter game developed specifically for the iPhone and iPod touch. Set in a fantasy world populated by monsters and giants, it tells the story of Delon, a warrior who is on a quest to rescue his daughter. To do so, he must confront Kroll, the Lord of Life, and his many minions.

Delon is equipped with a giant warhammer that he can swing to destroy his enemies. Using on-screen buttons to control Delon, you march him left or right, swiping and swinging at anyone who attacks. Both the iPhone's touchscreen and its accelerometer are used at points throughout the game. Delon also face off against a fierce giant in boss-style battles throughout the game, who comes back more angry and destructive with each passing level.

Kroll requires an iPhone or iPod touch running iPhone 2.0 software or later.

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Kensington offers power for iPhone, iPod

Kensington has launched two solutions for charging iPods and iPhones in the car, Car Charger for iPhone and iPod and the Car Charger Deluxe.

These recharge the Apple devices via the car stereo, by connecting through the cigarette lighter. A secure dock protects the device while a flexible arm gives the driver a clear view of the screen.

George Foot, marketing director at Kensington says: “We’ve all run out of battery at inconvenient times, which becomes more serious when we rely on these devices for work. By keeping iPhones and iPods charged in the car, users can make sure they’re making the most of the flexibility that mobile technology is designed to deliver.”

Car Charger for iPhone and iPod costs 14.99 while the deluxe version of the product will set you back 29.99.

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Last.fm 2.0 for iPhone available now

Last.fm has introduced a second version of it client software for iPhones, ushering in a wide range of features and improvements.

These improvements chiefly include a new and much more intuitive user interface with the capacity to zoom into album art on a single command.

Additional features according to the company include: - Ability to tag songs - Personal tag radio - Calendar based events view - Common artists when viewing a user profile

The application is available in the US, UK, Canada, Germany, Spain and France.

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EU will lead in 'Web 3.0' technology

European Telecommunications Commissioner Viviane Reding won glowing praise for her vision of the Internet 3.0 Monday from Vint Cerf, one of the creators of the Web and now Google's vice president and chief Internet evangelist.

Reding launched a consultation on the next generation of the internet Monday, laying down what she sees as its essential elements and calling on Europe to lead the way to get there.

"Web 3.0 means seamless 'anytime, anywhere' business, entertainment and social networking over fast reliable and secure networks. It means the end of the divide between mobile and fixed lines. It signals a tenfold quantum leap in the scale of the digital universe by 2015," she said in a statement.

At the same time the European Commission unveiled a report, outlining the main steps Europe must take to respond to the next wave of what it dubs the "information revolution."

Trends leading to Internet 3.0 include the boom in social networking, the shift to online business services, nomadic services based on GPS (Global Positioning System) and mobile TV and the growth of smart tags using RFID (radio frequency identification), the report found.

It concluded that Europe's focus on open and pro-competitive telecom networks and its emphasis on online privacy and security make it "well placed to exploit these trends."

Cerf said in a blog posting published Monday that he shares Reding's vision, with its focus on free and open networks and the need for open standards. However, instead of seeing Europe in the driving seat of change, he said the continent is well positioned to keep up with other parts of the world.

"For Europe to keep up in the global online race, it needs to sprint ahead powered by an openness recipe encompassing a neutral network, users rights, and open standards. I'm delighted that Europe’s policymakers stress the successful ingredients to promoting a robust, healthy internet," he said.

The report accompanying the launch of the consultation "makes a compelling case for open standards," Cerf said.

The report also identified a need to re-examine the concept of copyright in the online world, and called for a new business model for copyright holders. Cerf said Google is also looking closely at this issue.

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Microsoft may buy Yahoo and AOL if the latter two merge

Microsoft is quietly readying a plan to make a purchase of the combined Yahoo-AOL, should Yahoo pull off its plans to acquire the struggling America Online unit, according to sources close to AOL.

Microsoft was rebuffed by Yahoo earlier this year when it tried on multiple occasions to buy Yahoo. However, the odds are growing that a chain of events could lead to the Microsoft-Yahoo marriage after all — via the menage-a-trois with AOL.

Spokespeople at Microsoft and Yahoo declined to comment. A spokeswoman at AOL did not return a phone call and email.

Increasingly, word is that Google is going to have trouble upholding its advertising deal with Yahoo, because anti-trust regulators are concerned about the market dominance the deal gives to Google and there’s a very strong chance they’ll reject it. A decision could be made by the Justice Department next week. If that happens, Yahoo’s stock will take a massive hit: One reason Yahoo’s stock is as high as $19 is because of the extra revenues it says it getting from the Google deal. Yahoo’s stock could plunge to say, $15, if the Google deal gets rejected. That’s because investors will turn even more bearish on a company that seems strategically adrift.

That would make Yahoo even more desperate to do deal with another company. While Yahoo’s founder and CEO Jerry Yang has made it clear he does not want to merge with Microsoft, it’s obvious a deal with AOL is more palatable. Indeed, Yahoo’s new board of directors has initiated more talks with Time Warner over a possible merger with its America Online unit, something we confirmed last night. And investor Carl Icahn, now on Yahoo’s board, has been very vocal about Yahoo needing to do a deal. Moreover, AOL appears more desperate than ever to do a deal. Its business has continued to deteriorate. Time Warner said AOL’s ad revenues declined 16 percent to $1.1 billion in the most recent quarter, compared to the same quarter in 2007. So the odds of a Yahoo-AOL deal going through have gone up significantly over the past couple of weeks.

And with Microsoft desperate to do a deal — it wants to compete with Google in online advertising — there’s nothing stopping it from bidding to take over an even more attractive duo of Yahoo-AOL.

Combined, the three companies (Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL) would still only have about a 25 percent market share of the search advertising market, and so it wouldn’t be too large for regulators to be concerned about search dominance. Search still makes up a vast majority of the overall online advertising market, at about 60 percent, and so Google’s dominance of that search market (it has 65 percent market share) is what regulators are most concerned about. Display advertising represents about 40 percent of the market. Granted, the trio of Microoft-Yahoo-AOL would be the market leader in display advertising, and this could potentially draw its own scrutiny, but there are other players in this market, for example, Fox, increasingly Google, and newcomers like Facebook and Glam.

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